INTERVIEW
Like Father, Like Son
Jeffrey Hirsch, The Chronicler Of Change
by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan
Like father, like son -- eventually. Jeffrey Hirsch is now the president
of the Hirsch Organization, and editor-in-chief of The Stock Trader's
Almanac and Almanac Investor newsletter. But he started out not
wanting to do anything like his dad, Yale Hirsch, who is best known as
the founder of The Stock Trader's Almanac. Now in its 38th edition,
the Almanac documents years of historical stock market behavior
and analysis (www.stocktradersalmanac.com). But Jeffrey Hirsch eventually
changed his mind, starting out as a market analyst and historian after
college, and gradually working his way up.
STOCKS & COMMODITIES Editor Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan spoke with
Jeffrey Hirsch via phone on September 7, 2004.
What has made the Almanac so successful and
so usable is the fact that we've made things very easy to understand.
How did you first become involved in the markets?
I was raised around it, and it was almost a process of osmosis. A lot
of young people want to do something different than their parents at some
point, so I floated a bit through college. When I left and saw that my
father needed my help, and seeing my mind sort of worked like his -- genetics
and all -- I went to work for him. I started with the company in the autumn
of 1989.
What did you do?
I started off doing everything in the corporation from the ground up
-- from shipping, receiving, customer service, to statistical analysis
and stock market analysis -- and basically apprenticed at his side, feet,
everywhere. Still do, to some extent. It was about 2001 when I took over
the helm, and moved out from behind the scenes. The 2002 edition of The
Stock Trader's Almanac is the first one that's got both of our names
on it.
So you started putting things together and doing more of the analysis
at that point?
Well, I had been all along, little by little, but that's when I sort
of jumped into the forefront. Over the past few years, I've taken the full
reins, although we still have my father on call if we need him. He still
writes and throws a lot of ideas out there. What has made the Almanac
so successful and so usable is the fact that we've made things very easy
to understand at a glance. And Yale continues to drive that home, that
clear, informative layout, and we try to carry on and add to it as times
change and we change.
You update this every year, correct?
Update it, add things, subtract things, indicators fall into the indicator
graveyard, new ones are devised, and ones that had been forgotten are found
again.
How's that work?
One of our colleagues will make a comment, or somebody in the industry
will say something, and we'll look into how it plays in the market. The
December low indicator is one of those that got brought to our attention.
It's something that Lucien Hooper, a Forbes columnist and Wall Street
analyst, devised in the 1970s. Hooper noted that, "If December low is violated
during the first quarter of the New Year, watch out!" The full results,
analysis, and comparison to our January barometer evolved into a page in
the Almanac. And we used to see the monthly five-day bulge -- the
last day plus the first four days of the next month, where the market was
up more often during those five days than the rest of the month -- but
that pattern has shifted in recent years.
...Continued in the November 2004 issue of Technical Analysis of
STOCKS & COMMODITIES
Excerpted from an article originally published in the November 2004
issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights
reserved. © Copyright 2004, Technical Analysis, Inc.
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